The UK's analogue TV era will come to an end on October 24 2012, it has been announced.

Eighty years from the first experimental broadcasts, the old five-channel system will be switched off for good.

The date will also signal the completion of digital television switchover which started in 2008, since when millions of viewers have seen coverage boosted with extra channels and clearer pictures.

Announcing the end-date for analogue TV and switchover, David Scott, Digital UK chief executive, said: "The analogue era was a defining period for TV but the fully digital age will be even better, with a greater choice of channels for viewers everywhere. I'm looking forward to October next year when we will have brought the benefits of digital to every corner of the country."

The first experimental analogue television broadcasts started in August 1932.

The technology was officially launched by the BBC in 1936 and went on to inform and entertain viewers with coverage of landmark events such as the moon landings and classic shows from Nationwide to Morecambe and Wise.

The UK's switchover programme started in 2008.

At its conclusion in 2012, inside the timetable set out by Government, more than 15 million new viewers will have been brought into coverage for Freeview services, Digital UK said.

The organisation added it was on course to complete the project at least £53 million under budget.

The last analogue TV signals will be switched off in Northern Ireland where "virtually all" households will receive the new digital signal "including half-a-million viewers who cannot receive it now".